Believe it or not but, $300 is a great budget for an amazing Graphics Card. Putting together a gaming PC isn’t relatively cheap. A GPU is sometimes the most costly component of a gaming setup, thus keeping the price of the GPU under control is critical if you want to keep your setup under the budget plan.

Due to a bunch of funds spent on research & innovation, GPUs are steadily improving per year. A $300 mid-range GPU can run any contemporary AAA title at reasonable frame rates on low to medium parameters.

At high settings, you may anticipate over 100 fps if you’re playing a much less taxing game like Valorant. A $300 GPU is a great value for money if you want to play vintage and outdated AAA titles like Witcher III or GTA V.

There are a plethora of GPU models with the same chips made by various vendors, attributable to many producers and an ever-increasing competitive market.

Every other manufacturer fine-tunes and offers their tiny touch to their GPU. As a result, you may expect a minor performance difference between an Asus Nvidia GTX 1660 and an MSI GTX 1660.

The first one to make it to this list is the Gigabyte Radeon RX 5600 XT.

AMD is the clear master of the low-cost graphics card market. The new AMD RX 5600 XT from Gigabyte, a well-known GPU manufacturer, offers outstanding bang for the buck.

The Gigabyte Radeon RX 5600 XT is built on AMD’s 7 Nm RDNA processor, which has a core clock speed of 12000 MHz and will be released in early 2020.

The 7-nanometer architect isn’t as power-demanding as its competitors, requiring just 150 watts of electricity.

This model has a 6 GB GDDR6 video RAM, which is more than adequate to handle any graphically demanding game at 1140p and 30+ frames per second.

In addition, there are three display connections and one HDMI port for output. If your display supports it, AMD Freesync technology is pre-loaded on the card to decrease on-screen tearing.

Gigabyte has added a couple of its distinctive Windforce fans, which rotate in opposite directions to maximize wind flow.

The GPU is 11″ in dimension, which may be too big for some small cases. Altogether, the Radeon RX 5600 XT delivers excellent performance at a reasonable rate.

Next is a great graphics card from MSI, the Gaming GeForce RTX 2060.

The MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 is Nvidia’s only RTX graphics card that costs less than $300.

Therefore, if you’re searching for a GPU that enables ray tracing and has a $300 budget, the MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 is pretty much your sole option.

MSI has factory overclocked Nvidia’s RTX chip on the inside of the card. You’ll get 1710 Boost Clock speed straight out of the box.

The operations are controlled by the 6 GB GDDR6 RAM, which is good enough to play AAA games at 1440p.

The ray tracing is the perfect accessory, but you’ll have to say goodbye to higher frame rates if you want ray tracing to operate on this cheap card.

There are two fans with slanted blades from MSI that increase ventilation. Under excessive load, the fans themselves become rather noisy to maintain the chip cool.

There are four outputs, including three Display Ports and one HDMI connection. To summarize, the MSI Geforce RTX 2060 is a powerful mid-range luxury graphics card that supports ray tracing.

You all must have heard of the Sapphire Radeon RX 580, if not then keep on reading to find out more about it.

The Sapphire Radeon RX 580 is the most affordable GPU, with 8 GB of video memory, demonstrating AMD’s dominance in the affordable graphics card memory market.

The sole trade-off with the 8 GB VRAM is that the RX 580 utilizes older GDDR5 memory rather than newer GDDR6 memory.

The Radeon RX 580, rather than the more costly Radeon 5600 and Radeon 5700 series, is based on 4th Gen GCN graphics cores, whereas the prior cards employ 7 Nm RDNA cores.

That’s why; performance power consumption is slightly greater at 185 watts compared to 150 watts.

Sapphire has created an outstanding card based on the AMD processor.

The card’s clock rates may be increased to 1366 MHz, and it includes AMD’s proprietary technologies such as Free Sync, Eyefinity, and LiquidVR.

The LiquidVR provides a stutter- and lag-free virtual reality gaming experience, similar to FreeSync for VR.

The Radeon RX 580 is a highly strong and competent GPU, especially for VR gaming, if you’re on a limited budget.

Let’s talk about the MSI Gaming GeForce GTX 1660-

The Nvidia GTX 1660 is among the most popular GPUs under $300 in the industry.

The GPU is designed on Nvidia’s Pascal design, making it extremely power-efficient.

The GTA 1660 delivers a smooth and flawless gaming experience with 6 GB of GDDR5 visual memory and a high clock speed of 1860 MHz

The performance is almost identical to that of the AMD Radeon RX 580.

The MSI GTX 1660 has an appealing appearance. The TORX 3.0 is a multi-award-winning GPU cooling fan.

In window cabinets, there’s a four-zone RBG lighting that looks great.

The MSI afterburner software provides real-time information on your GPU as well as the ability to overclock it.

Here is a graphics card from EVGA, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB.

We previously stated that the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 is among the most highly recommended GPUs under $300, and we’ve included another GTX 1660 on our listing.

However, the EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB differs significantly from the MSI Gaming GeForce GTX 1660.

To begin with, the GTX 1660 Ti outperforms the GTX 1660 due to a faster base clock speed.

The Evga GeForce GTX 1660 Ti has a faster memory clock and more memory bandwidth.

When both of the 1660 cards have 6 GB of video RAM, the EVGA model has GDDR6 memory rather than GDDR5 on the MSI, giving it a performance advantage.

This specific model has only one fan, which lowers the GPU’s physical footprint.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a fantastic pick if you’re constructing a small PC on a shoestring.

The MSI Gaming Radeon RX 5500 XT is a great option too.

The Radeon RX5500 XT, which costs only $200, can outperform a GPU that costs twice that much.

The Radeon RX 5500 XT is based on Radeon’s revolutionary RDNA architecture, which has 7-nanometer cores.

With a remarkable speed of 14 GB/s, the boost clock climbs all the way up to 1845 MHz

The 8 GB GDDR6 RAM can handle any games you fling at it in 1080p HD with ease.

Because it’s made by MSI, it’ll come with all of the features found on MSI GPUs.

We’re talking about TORX 3.0 fans and MSI Afterburner for real-time GPU optimization, overview, and overclocking.

MSI has done an excellent job with ventilation, with plenty of thermal pads and 6mm copper heat pipes that are in direct touch.

When you combine it with the 7 Nm chip’s low power consumption, you have a superb GPU that doesn’t choke even under high demand.

Seventh on the list is the XFX Radeon Rx 590 Fatboy Core Edition 8GB OC.

First and foremost, XFX deserves credit for the term “Fatboy.” The name alone conjures up images of a raw powerhouse, and that’s precisely what the RX 590 offers.

The RX 590 is the most recent addition to AMD’s RX 500 series, which is based on the Polaris GPU.

It utilizes a 12-nanometer chip rather than the 14-nanometer chip found in the RX580, making it more power-saving.

The RDNA cores in AMD’s RX 5000 series, on the other hand, continue to hold the title of most power-efficient GPU processor.

The XFX Radeon RX 590 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory at an 8Gbps speed, making it about 12% faster than that of the RX 580 and nearly 10% faster than that of the GTX 1060, the GTX 1660’s predecessors.

The Fatboy is a freshly overclocked RX 590 capable of clocking in at 16000 MHz

XFX has created a unique cooling solution for the RX 590 that successfully increases performance on the overclocked GPU by cooling the VRAM.

It’s one of the most powerful GPUs you can get for under $200.

Here is a graphics card for all the ASUS fans- ASUS ROG-STRIX-RX580-O8G-GAMING.

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is AMD’s most successful GPU under $300, and Asus’ version of the card merits special attention.

A quick reminder that the Asus ROG Strix RX580 is about $100 more expensive than the Sapphire Radeon RX 580.

If you’re on a shoestring budget, Asus’s price tag isn’t reasonable.

The Asus, on the other hand, is a great upgrade if you have some room in your budget.

It features GCN graphic cores and 8 GB of GDDR5 VRAM in terms of specifications. At 1380 MHz, the clock speed is also somewhat higher.

The $100 price difference between Asus and Sapphire is justified by the additional functionality given by Asus.

To begin, you’ll receive three Axial-tech Fans, which Asus built specifically for their top-of-the-line GPUs. You may choose between silent and powerful fan speeds, depending on your needs.

Furthermore, below 45 degrees, the fans shut off, resulting in an incredibly silent gaming environment.

Because the Asus Aura lighting system allows you to personalize the RGB lighting on the GPU, it’s a great option for window cabinets.

The accompanying program, on top of that, enables you to fine-tune whatever.

The ASUS ROG STRIX RX580 is the finest graphics card for a budget yet attractive setup of around $300.

It’s a good idea to check into the second-hand market here too, especially with such a limited price bracket.

Considering their age, they are capable of competing with any current mid-range card if they are in good condition.

Imagine, for example, Nvidia’s GTX 1000 series. Those GPUs ruled the market with their ferocious performance, but now that they’ve been phased out, you may get a great price on reconditioned or used versions.

You could even find a brand new, unused GTX 1000 series card in the clearance if you’re fortunate.

Buying a used GPU from a reputable merchant or having it certified by a local computer expert is the best method to ensure its quality and health.

The accessibility and costs of specific GPU models will vary by country, but these are the most popular graphics cards under $300.

Next up is the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070.

The Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 was the ideal balance between power and quality. The GPU, which is based on Pascal technology, has a boost clock speed of up to 1873 MHz.

The boost clock is coupled with an 8 GB GDDR5 VRAM with a memory frequency of 2002 MHz

It will be capable of handling contemporary AAA titles at 1440p at playable frame rates in 2020. To have higher frame rates, you may always lower the resolution to 1080p.

The GTX 1070 may struggle with 4K because it was not built to assist that resolution, but it is VR capable.

A used Zotac GTX 1070 was on offer for $289 on Amazon at the time of writing this article in 2020, while several listings of refurbished GTX 1070 were presented on New Egg.

Now last but not least is the AMD Radeon VEGA 56.

The Radeon VEGA 56, like the GTX 1070, is AMD’s second strongest GPU from the previous generation.

The efficiency and specifications are equivalent to the Zotac GTX 1070. The Vega 56, which is based on the 14 Nm GCN design, has a boost clock speed of up to 1611 MHz and 8 GB of HBM2 visual memory.

The Vega 56 should perform similarly to the GTX 1070, thus AAA games released in 2020 should be no problem.

A reconditioned MSI Radeon VEGA 56 is currently offered on New Egg for $299 at the time of writing. In comparison to its GTX cousin, you’ll find a lot fewer VEGA 56 GPUs on the second-hand market.

The main reason for this is that Nvidia dominated the previous generation of graphics cards market.

Conclusion

To enjoy video games, you don’t need a large debt on your shoulders. So any of the above-mentioned inexpensive yet powerful GPUs will be able to play pretty much any game at 1080p and at least 30 frames per second in 2020.

However, do not put all of your income on the GPU. The CPU, RAM, and adequate cooling are equally as important as the GPU in a gaming system. So plan your gear properly!

Thank you so much for reading!